The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said Republican and Democratic staff on the committee "haven’t had extensive discussions on GSP and MTB, and won't, my sense is, as long as there’s an insistence on [linking them to renewing] Trade Adjustment Assistance."

CBP will soon launch new “interactive” tools on its website, along with additional guidance and frequently asked questions, to help industry comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said. Miller said the agency has been exploring ways to better aid U.S. importers as they navigate increasingly “complex global supply chains” and vet suppliers who may be using forced labor.

DOJ briefs in the massive Section 301 litigation don't demonstrate that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative considered "major objections contemporaneously with its decisions" to impose the lists 3 and 4A tariffs, the plaintiffs argued in a Dec. 5 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. While USTR relies on presidential direction as the post hoc justification of its decisions, the court already ruled that out as a means of satisfying the Administrative Procedure Act, the brief said. To now satisfy the APA, the U.S. may take new action, but the lists 3 and 4A tariffs may not stay in place based on "conclusory and post hoc rationales," the plaintiffs said (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT #21-00052).

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Researchers at Sheffield University, who previously documented ties to Uyghur forced labor in the cotton, solar panel supply chain and luxury vinyl tile sectors, now say that international car companies could be purchasing steel and aluminum that they use in car frames, axles, bodies, engine casings, wheels and brakes from Xinjiang, and that tires, windshields, batteries, car seats, circuit boards, central control systems, safety control systems, touchscreens, transformers, inductors, connectors and wiring solutions are all touched by forced labor.

With just four weeks until many of the rules for subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act are scheduled to begin, Europeans continue to press for a strategy that includes European manufacturers rather than preferencing the North American auto industry -- and Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said, "We are leaving this meeting slightly more optimistic than we were entering this meeting."

Importers and exporters of solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam must complete and sign certifications within the next several weeks for any entries after April 1, 2022, to avoid antidumping and countervailing duties imposed in the preliminary determination of an anti-circumvention inquiry released by the Commerce Department on Dec. 2.

U.S.-based Omni Logistics violated shipping regulations when it failed to include required information on demurrage invoices for more than 200 containers, said TPG Pressure, a U.S. supplier of construction equipment and services. In a complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission dated Nov. 29, TPG said it was forced to pay Omni more than $860,000 in unfair fees before the company released its cargo, adding that Omni also invoiced TPG an additional $362,000 for “alleged services and costs.”

The Port of Hidalgo, Texas, lacked the authority to reliquidate entries of mangoes from Mexico, CBP headquarters said in a Sept. 30 ruling, made public on Nov. 29. The ruling was in response to a protest filed on behalf of importer RB Logistics, which imported the mangoes in 2013, claiming preferential treatment under NAFTA. The port liquidated the entries, without change, in January 2014 but then reliquidated the entries with an increase in duties owed in February 2017.

After a vote to add sick leave days to the railroad workers' contract garnered a majority, but didn't reach the 60-vote threshold needed in the Senate, the Senate voted 81-15 to impose the previously negotiated contract on the 12 railroad unions. Four of those unions, including the largest one, had been threatening a strike on Dec. 9, which would have disrupted 40% of cargo transport. The other unions would have honored the picket lines.